The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 73

henr." But nt times they pierce through our sensuality and break up our lethargic indolence. "Clenr ye Jehovnh's way in the desert." The Divine monarch is about to make a progress. Let the heart of the nation be as a highway for their God (Ps. lxxxiv. 6). So the Gospels understand the cry (Matt. iii. 3; Mark i. 3; Luke iii. 4). From another point of view, the way of Jehovah through the desert is symbolic of his people's destinies. Dnbylon, as the scene of captivity, reminds us of the scene of captivity of yore in Egypt. When the temple was destroyed and Israel went forth, it was as if Jehovah had depnrted-perhaps to his sacred seat in the north, where Ezekiel (i. 4) sees the cherubic chariot. His coming back is the people's coming back under his leadership. The imagery of clearing the way may be illustrated from the practice of Oriental princes. Diodorus tells of Semiramis that, in her march to Ecbatana, she had precipices digged down, and hollows filled up, so as to leave an everlasting memorial of herself-the "road of Semiramis" (cf. Baruch v. 7). Then the glory of Jehovah, eclipsed or hidden through his people's suffering and exile, will shine forth in its splendour, and all mankind shall look on. 2. Again the voice is heard saying, "Call ! " And the prophet answers, "What shall I call?" The burden of the cry is the frat?ty of man and the eternity of the truth. Homer compares the race of man to the successive generations of the leaves of the wood; the prophet to the grass and the flowers ( cf. Ps. xc. 5, 6). Israel and Assyria are both politically extinct, and Babylon is hurrying to its end. The thought is suggested, though not expressed, that if Israel is to rise again from its ashes, it can only be by abstaining from all attempts at secular aggrandize- ment. The new Israel will be, in all the circumstances of its growth, supernatural. And what is true of one people is true of all. Princes, nobles, and monarchs, armies and magistrates, are feeble like grass and will soon pass away. On the one hand, they would not be able to accomplish what was needed for the deliverance of the people; on the other, their oppressors had no power to continue their bondage, since they were like grass and must pass away. Dut Jehovah had all power, and was ever-enduring, and able to fulfil all his promises, especially those concerning Israel (eh. xliv. 26; xiv. 10; Iii. 6; !xiii. 1; Jer. xliv. 28, 29). And the healing results are to be known by all mankind. III. THE INsPmING VISION, The prophet is carried away in spirit to Palestine, and sees the fulfilment of the promise drawing near. He personifies Zion and Jerusalem, and calls upon them to lift up their voices and announce to the cities of Judah the approach of God. Perhaps he idealizes the city, or is thinking of the city out of sight -the spiritual commonwealth of which the earthly and visible one was the type. Lo! he comes! the God and Leader of the people returning to the city, the temple, the land. He will come in his might; the arm is the very symbol of his almightiness; and it rules "for him," i.e. for the peculiar people, the people of his possession. He comes to recompense his friends and to execute vengeance on hill foes. The ruler of a people is fitly imnged as a shepherd, and they as his flock. And now he has sought and found hi~ sheep a11:ain, and will once more lead them to green pastures (Jer. xxxi. 10; I. 19; Ezek. xxxiv. 11-16), and, as a good shepherd, will not overdrive the suckling ewes (Gen. xxxiii. 13). In the Syrian plains the frequent removal to fresh pastures is very destructive to the young, and shepherds may now be seen in the Orient carrying, on such occasions, the lambs in their bosoms. We nee,l, by any means in our power, travel, and observation, to realize strongly the grave re.~ponsilnlity, the constant anxiety, the f)atient and unwearied tendance, connected with the shl'pherd's life in the East. Com- pare such a life with that of the hunter, who, from we.tching, pursuing, outwitting wild beasts, comes to partake of their fierce and cunning nature. The life of the shepherd draws upon the fund of love and tenderness in his heart; it is a humanizing life, full of a fine education; elevating by means of condescension. Then how rich a symbol is the pastoral ohe.racter of the nature of the redeeming God I And how do the numerous passages in the New Testament, in which Jesus is so described, start into life and beauty, when these things are considered (John x.; Heb. xiii. 20; 1 Pet. ii. 25; v. 4) ! There ls an ineffable union of might with. tenderness in the character of the Redeemer-God, which should in some sort be reflected in the pastoral character of Christ's servants (John xvi, 15-17).---J. Vere. 12-18.-Jehovah incomparable. I. His POWER OVER NATU"BE. The boldesi  i6 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. [ott, n.. 1-81.